The start of a joyous holiday season is upon us. At Ocean Champions, it's a time to reflect, and a time to express our gratitude to all of you, the ocean’s warriors, and to the ocean champions in Congress.

While much of the news out of Washington suggests dysfunction at best and anti-enviro aggression at worst, our ocean champions have continued to take important steps to protect our oceans. We’re thankful for:

Senator Whitehouse, and his landmark legislation – The National Endowment for the Oceans – which would establish the first-ever national fund for ocean conservation; investing in activities that would restore, protect, and maintain ocean, coastal and Great Lakes health. (By the way, Senate champions Snowe and Nelson are also pushing this bill.)

Champions like Senator Barbara Mikulski and others, who defended the National Ocean Policy against attacks, allowing NOAA to continue carrying out a range of related activities including ocean planning in key coastal states.

Numerous House and Senate Champions who worked behind the scenes to make sure the “Jones Amendment” (which would have dealt a critical blow to catch shares and fish conservation) didn’t pass.

We’re also very thankful to have all of you on the team, battling with us and our Congressional champions. Without your generosity and engagement, we wouldn’t be able to keep building and leveraging political power for the oceans. Thank you for all that you do!